Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

I have never seen the BBC miniseries. I have the book but never read it. I was not exactly expecting something like this. The trailer made it look like a very tension-filled film, largely thanks to the editing and Elfman's score from The Wolfman, but it turns out it is very languidly paced, very slow indeed. There is a lot of dialogue, but there are equally a lot of pauses between dialogue, lots of stylish atmosphere and moody photography to take in. This film is filled with silences.

And the thing that strikes me most, the thing that feels utterly unique about it, is that the film almost always holds the viewer at arm's length. There is tension and suspense, but not the usual Bourne/Hitchcock kind. The tension is always simmering underneath, never ever coming to the surface. It never gives your heart the satisfaction for pumping blood and adrenaline at 120 beats a minute. I'm sure this is the aspect of the film that will most likely put off mainstream viewers. It is a cold film indeed, but it does have the humanism element in it, but again it is presented in a very arms-length, detached kind of manner.

The performances are great. Oldman, quiet yet brilliant. Firth, Hardy, Graham, Hurt, Toby Jones, all really good (although I did think Ciaran Hinds was wasted). This was the first time I saw Cumberbatch, he's very good although he has the kind of face that screams "punch me!" But the unsung hero of the film is Mark Strong, he has a very short screen time but he absolutely nails it, and his performance is what gives the final montage sequence the gravitas it needed.

Not the thriller most people will expect, certainly not one a lot of people will like, but it's a very unique, very classy film.



P/S: Thomas Alfredson's previous film Let The Right One In was also pretty cold and detached, despite the warm themes that permeates the film.